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Vanishing Act: The Intriguing Story of Frederick Valentich's Unexplained Disappearance in the Skies

Updated: Sep 20

Hello everyone! Happy Wednesday! I hope that you are having a fantastic day so far and I just want to say you look great today so keep up whatever it is that you're doing. The rain in Melbourne IS ABSOLUTELY SWELTERING DOWN. I had to go outside earlier today for a few adulty things and I got so drenched.


In today's blog, we're going to take a look at one of my favourites - an unsolved mystery and one that Luke and I learned about on our most recent roadie. I've also made a YT video so check that out too. I'll post it at the end of this post.



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Anyway. Today, we're going to be learning ALL about the unexplained disappearance of pilot Frederick Valentich who disappeared at just 22 years of age. Frederick Valentich was an Australian pilot born to two Italian immigrants in Australia. They lived in Moorabbin, Victoria, and Valentich had dreamed of becoming a pilot ever since he was just 12 years of age. Valentich was born on the 9th of June 1958 and unfortunately, disappeared on the 21st of October 1978. Valentich spent a lot of his teenage years and university years studying aviation. Once he had left school, Valentich worked a full-time job (a shop assistant in Moonee Ponds I've just learned) by day and studied in the evenings. He eventually obtained a non-commercial pilot's license. He was quite guarded about his passion for aviation and often kept this hobby of his a secret. Valentich was a member of the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) and was determined to become a commercial pilot eventually. The main difference with non-commercial licenses means that you can fly smaller aircraft on your own - I also think with a few passengers allowed. However, you couldn't fly a Qantas or Air New Zealand commercial flight, for example.


Interestingly, Valentich was also an avid reader of all things UFO, extraterrestrial, and alien invasion, according to his father. He spent a great amount of time reading up on UFOlogy/other-worldly ideologies and genuinely believed that an alien invasion was imminent. His dad, Gudo, also said following his disappearance that he really hoped he had indeed been abducted by aliens and would return one day. I am also not able to find a source for this, but I do remember reading about how before his disappearance, Valentich's mother saw a light in the sky that wasn't like any other and when she called for Frederick, he came running, but as soon as he did, the light was gone, just like that. Fortunately, both Frederick and his father did see this. I think this meant his whole family were convinced that aliens were real.


So what about the actual disappearance? What happened? Why was Frederick Valentich flying that particular evening? This all started on the 21st of October 1978, when Frederick (who according to the media, had failed a few exams and breached some flight safety rules previously, decided he wanted to go for a flight over Bass Straight). His flight path was from Moorabbin, Victoria, then to Cape Otway, then to King Island. Valentich had indeed earned his private pilot's licence so this wasn't anything out of the ordinary. However, when he went to lodge his flight path with the important air traffic control people, he had written that he intended to pick up a few friends from King Island and bring them back stating that he was carrying 4 life jackets for his trip. The supervisor advised Valentich to inform Melbourne airport crews as well, which he did, but he never asked for any lighting at King Island Airport.


This story wasn't all that it seemed though. Valentich had told his friends and family back home that he was going to go fishing for crayfish on King Island. Weird right? Well, it turns out, both these stories were a lie and we may not know for sure what happened to Valentich ever. Nonetheless, his flight was approved and no one thought that Valentich was "out of mind" and he never mentioned anything about UFOs or aliens to the air corps.


Frederick was flying in a small aircraft known as a Cessna 182L and had only about 15 hours logged of flying during darker hours - so we have to keep that in mind when we hear what's next. But, as it was October in Australia at the time, it was spring and I don't think it would have been super dark - maybe a bit of an early sunset though. I'm not sure what time Valentich started his flight, but at 7:06 pm, he radioed Melbourne Air Traffic Control to ask if there was "any known aircraft below 5000 feet" in his vicinity, to which air traffic control responded with "no reported activity". Valentich went on to say he could see some sort of aircraft above him with bright lights. However, he was unable to identify what "sort" of aircraft this was. He also claimed that this aircraft started hovering and circling his own plane. Eventually, Valentich said his engines were starting to idle and he was struggling to fly. After being asked to "identify" the aircraft, he said "It's not an aircraft" and if you want to check out the actual audio, "TheRelec's video is amazing". At 7:12 pm, all communications were abruptly cut off and all that was left was a type of "white noise" sound that TO THIS DAY, IS STILL DEBATED ABOUT. This particular noise was referred to as a metallic, scratching sound.


A search party occurred immediately. They searched by air, land, and sea, all up until the 25th of October 1978 with no results. In my opinion, this doesn't seem like that long at all. However, this is when they presumed Valentich's disappearance as "fatal". What the h*ck is going on? It kinda seems like (with a bit of media bias), they weren't really that interested in finding someone who didn't have that much to give the aviation community. Or was this an inside job? I don't know, but let's look at some potential theories!


But first, I also have to say that 5 years later in July of 1983 they found part of an engine cowl flap washed up on Flinders Island that may have been part of Valentich's plane. But there's no way of knowing for sure - see the YT video for more of a breakdown of this theory.


The first potential theory is that Frederick Valentich staged his own disappearance - although this one does seem a little iffy. The theory was that Valentich staged his disappearance and could have easily gone off his flight path (as I don't think any plane showed up on air traffic control's radar - not even his). This means that he could have gone somewhere else and landed safely. However, if Valentich did this, it was noted by much of the media that he would have likely resurfaced a few years down the track (and returned for fame plus a cult following). His father, Gudo spoke to plenty of media outlets and reassured them that he just wasn't like that. I'm not sure how much of this I believe and I do think it's possible that he did in fact stage his disappearance and went off to live a new life. We never know what's going through someone's mind at the time. I also want to note here that a lot of people have in fact gone missing for like 8, 12, or 30 years at a time and then randomly appeared back to their old life again being 100% fine. Which again, is weird but we can't rule out this theory.


The second proposed theory (or explanation) is that Valentich ended up flying his plane upside down and in turn, becoming disorientated. If this occured, he would have likely thought that the reflection of his plane's lights in the water was what he was seeing and may have crashed into the water. This theory is also not likely though, and that's because of the model of the plane. Cessna's don't cope well with flying upside down for too long and his engine would have cut abruptly (faster than 6 minutes).


The third theory and what all the fancy-a** Air Corps people have decided on, is that Valentich saw an illusion of a tilted horizon. This theory was proposed in 2013, when two pilots James McGaha and Joe Nickell decided to investigate what really happened. According to McGaha and Nickell, Valentich experienced this sensory illusion (which seem to be common in the skies) and to compensate, unfortunately turned his plane into a graveyard spiral (like going down into one's demise). This spiral is likely what he thought was orbiting him and the lights he saw were likely just some planets. I'm kinda interested to learn more about the sensory illusions so maybe we'll come back to that later on. Anyway, this theory is the most commonly believed one and probably the most likely.


But what about the aliens?

What about the UFOs?

Well, it's still possible.


Let's talk a bit about that.


Firstly, Daddy Gudo definitely believed that his son could have been abducted by aliens. His claim is supported by the fact that "they found no trace of him or his plane" during the search. And to be fair, they didn't search that long and yes I know the ocean is super deep and he could have sunk but wouldn't the time frame have still been enough to go deep into the sea and find at least some debris of the plane? Gudo also always upheld the claim that his son would never lie and not the type of person to make up stories, even if he was interested in UFOs.


UFOologists will also tell you that he was indeed abducted by aliens. What's interesting about this though, is he had a girlfriend who stated to the media that if aliens came and took him, he'd go with them, no questions asked. However, he would always want his girlfriend to come with him and she doesn't think it's likely this is what happened. Apparently, she even conducted her own search in different areas, but also had no luck. I believe some friends helped her with this too. I've also found conflicting information on this, but some media articles reported that Valentich's love for 17-year-old Rhonda Rushton was not approved by his family and could have been a contributing factor into his disappearance. Sure, maybe because he was 22 and she was only 17 (although I'm pre sure this is past the legal age for consensual s*x) - but if she was still in school at the time, maybe it did come across a bit dodgy. But, wouldn't you take her with you?


Somehow, little old New Zealand (typical) also found a way to relate this to what they saw in 1979 - something I believe I blogged about when discussing New Zealand's unsolved mysteries. I won't get into here, but "here's" a good article to read if you're interested. But yes, I am referring to the Kaikoura UFO lights (that have been said to be planets too).


Anyway, another theory is that Valentich's disappearance was staged and tbh, this one doesn't shock me as much as you think it would. Maybe he knew too much? Maybe UFOs and aliens are real? Maybe, just maybe. Or maybe they didn't care about him and just wanted him gone and to not have an aviation career? So, inside job? Maybe. Maybe not? I'm really just speculating here.


One final note though! The photographer. What are you talking about Ashleigh? Well, a photographer (who yes I finally learned the name or remembered it) called Roy Manifold was on holiday in Australia, taking what I assumed would have been film photography long exposure of the sunset at Cape Otway. I think Manifold learned of Valentich's disappearance and was like wait, that was the day I was there taking photos. Anyway, once Manifold's prints were developed by Kodak he noticed a smudge on one of the photos. Manifold put it down to a development error. However, after checking with Kodak, there was no known issues with the film or photos during/after development. You can see the image "here". In the top right corner, there's a black smudge that looks similar to a small plane in the sky. Weird right? It also kinda looks like a bird but depending on the lens he was using, unlikely to show up that big in development. I believe he took this photo to the media and it caused further speculation but I don't think anything else ever come of it.


What do you think happened? What theories do you find reliable and what theories can you dubunk? Let me know in the comments below.


Also, check out my YouTube video below!



Much love,

Ash xx


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